Greenshoots

Welcome to Greenshoots Music Group

What Are We?

We are an amateur music practice group, with origins and focus in folk music, particularly
British Isles traditional dance music, but sometimes playing a wider range of music.

Who Are We?

It varies week to week, but usually between 6 and 20 people of all ages.
There is a core group who have been coming (on and off) for years that gives continuity and stability,
and then newcomers join every few months - some stay for a few months, and others stay for years
(or leave and come back again later). See 'Why' section below.

At a collaboration concert in October 2010 (concentrating too hard - normally happier!)

Where, When and How?

We meet at the Black Horse at Melbourn, near Cambridge (UK!).
The address is 63 Orchard Rd, Melbourn, Royston, SG8 6BP.
For location information and a map see here.

We meet on alternate Monday evenings, from 8pm to 10:30. In 2018, the first sessions were
8th and 22rd Jan, then strictly every other week (so 14th and 28th May, etc.).

New players are always welcomed! Cost is zero! Contact details are at
the bottom of the page.

What Instruments Do We Play?

What Music Do We Play?

Over the years we have built up a large list of tunes to which we have the
music. Most are British Isles traditional music, particularly folk dance tunes. However there are
exceptions ranging from Lily Marlene to American Patrol and Ashokan farewell. The majority are single
line melodies with chord accompaniement, but we do also use some
harmony settings (mainly 2-part). Most of the tunes (600+) are available in
Paul Hardy's session tunebook, which is
free as PDF to download and print, and also in abc format to play and manipulate. You can also there order a printed and spiral bound copy via Lulu.com's print on demand services.

What Is The Standard?

Variable! We are a mix of abilities and experience, but are all better than when we joined. We start new tunes
slowly, and then speed up gradually. We are not afraid of stopping and practicing difficult bits several times.

Why do we Exist?

The group started in about 1995 at the Wheatsheaf pub in Eversden, and has been meeting fortnightly ever since.
The idea was to play tunes slowly and speed them up, starting off reading the music from the 'dots', and moving more to playing by ear.
The target was to ease players into the main folk sessions that ran at that pub at that time.

The pub name gave Greenshoots its name, as the new 'green shoots' of the wheat. When the main Wheatsheaf session closed in the late 1990s, then
Greenshoots moved to the Red Lion at Whittlesford where it occupied a back room for many years.
In Autumn 2011, the Red Lion was being redeveloped, so we moved to our current venue at the Black Horse at Melbourn.

What do we sound like?

There are some MP3 recordings of tunes recorded in our usual Greenshoots sessions, plus ones of some of us playing sets at two of the local collaboration concerts.

How Is It Organised?

We are a self-help group, with no single boss (a benevolent oligarchy?). Paul
is the usual leader when he's there, because of the use of his Session tunebook as the core repertoire, and because his
concertina can be heard! Mike as long-term secretary handles the finances (minimal) and accommodation arrangements, and organises if Paul is not there.
Paul currently has the master email list and sends out the reminders and lists of tunes for the next session, although others have held this role in the recent past.
Chris has been continuity and the musical director. Others chime in as needed.

Do We Perform in Public?

Rarely! We exist to play for our own pleasure, and to improve our playing.
However, we normally do a carol session for charity each year before Christmas, and have been known to do
half hour spots at local folk events during the year.

Performing at the Red Lion folk day in July 2002

Current Music Session Contents

Sessions in 2018 are currently in two parts. The first half is playing tunes chosen at the end of the previous session,
so that people have had time to look at them at home.
The second half lets people choose tunes by
going round the room to give everyone a chance to choose one they like (or dislike but want to practice!), mainly from
Paul Hardy's Session Tunebook.

Previous Music Session Content

In previous years, we have worked through the alphabet:

Monday 3 September - Tunes starting with 'E' and with 'R'.

Monday 17 September - Tunes starting with 'F' and with 'S'.

Etc.

Before that we used to plan sessions more formally, and some previous programmes are available: